Suspect in jail warden’s slay in witness program

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

MANILA, Philippines—The family of a murdered jail warden has asked Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to surrender the suspect in the killing, Akmad Baganian Ampatuan, a former Datu Salibo town mayor who is in the government’s witness protection program as a potential witness against 50 new suspects in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre.

In a letter to De Lima, the family of Al-Khail Tangki Mamalangkay said the Cotabato City regional trial court had issued an arrest warrant for Akmad and two others for the murder of Mamalangkay on Sept. 24, 1999.

Last month, the clerk of court issued a certification stating that the arrest warrant was “still valid and in existence as of today.”

“We write you to ask for justice. Our case has been pending for 17 long years because the family of the accused is influential and powerful,”Mamalangkay’s father Wahab, mother Tangkli and siblings Kagi Kombol and Belta wrote in their letter to De Lima.

They said Mamalangkay made a dying declaration that Akmad was the one who shot him. Mamalangkay’s motorcycle was recovered by authorities from the Ampatuan residence, they added.

Mamalangkay’s brother, Sukarno, also witnessed the murder although he remains in hiding because of threats to his life.

The case was not pursued during Ampatuan’s tenure as mayor as authorities failed to serve the arrest warrant against him, they said.

Akmad Ampatuan, the nephew of clan patriarch Andal Ampatuan Sr., was arrested last week in a Makati hospital where he was recovering from injuries he suffered during the two ambush attempts made on his life last year.

De Lima, who described Akmad as a “crucial witness” in the case against 50 new Maguindanao massacre suspects, has ordered that the Cotabato RTC be informed that he is under government protection and that the governemnt would assert its authority to place him under its custody.